Lincoln plays it cool with winning rally

Early in the year, Lincoln High might have lost its composure and maybe more, but down the stretch last night confidence built on 28 games produced a 72-67 victory over Fontana Summit and a berth at home against Pasadena at 7 p.m. tomorrow in the Southern California Regional Division II semifinals.

“We’ve been behind by 25 and been in every possible situation this season. There isn’t a scenario we haven’t seen,” said coach Jason Bryant, whose Hornets (26-2) started the fourth quarter down by three. “I was very happy we didn’t shoot threes and kept going to the basket. They finally listened.”

Not that Lincoln allowed the packed home crowd much time to relax. The Hornets waited until freshman Tyrell Robinson followed a Nathan Maxey slam with two points of his own to take their first lead of the second half, 66-65, with 1:45 to play.

A basket by Tyrell’s twin brother Tyree finished the 6-0 run, but nothing has come easy for the Hornets, who won their 21st straight.

In the end, Tyrell went to the line with eight seconds remaining and Lincoln leading by two. He calmly drilled the first free throw. When he missed the second, Summit seemed to hesitate as Lincoln senior Norman Powell gobbled up the ball and put it in to clinch the victory.

“It doesn’t matter that Tyrell is a freshman,” Bryant said. “I’ll take that freshman any day.”